Homemade Lavender Soap

02/11/2013

Did you know that this coming Sunday, Feb. 17th is Random Acts of Kindness Day? Well, it is. And I am joining with Michael’s and participating in their week long “Craft It Forward Random Acts of Kindness Week! I was lucky enough to be able to get to know many of the Crafty Geniuses who work at the Michael’s headquarters this past summer. And so I was really excited to work with them again on this fun campaign.

I decided that I wanted to make some Homemade Lavender Soap that I could then give away to friends and family as my “Craft it Forward” project. I also wanted to do something that my girls could also help with. I wanted them to be able to make their own soaps that they too could share with their friends!

Now, can you believe that with all my crafting projects that I have NEVER made or played with soap? I know! I have always LOVED pretty “handmade” soaps and I guess I thought it was a lot more involved than they really were. I know there are some people who make handmade soaps completely from scratch and in another life, I would love to be able to try that.

But, for now, I took the super easy road. And I can’t believe how easy this simple method was. I talked with my local Michael’s and got some really great tips and advice and learned how to make some really simple but beautiful soap. Today I will share with you the basics so that you can make some for yourself. Now…I am no expert, but this is how I made these Homemade Lavender Soaps.

You will need the following:

A premade soap base (I chose Goat’s Milk Soap)

Scent (I went with my doTerra Lavendar oil but Michael’s has several yummy scents)

A Soap Colorant (I did not use any in this particular soap but did in other soaps I will share later this week)

Rubbing Alcohol

Spray Bottle for the alcohol

Soap Mold

Bowl for melted soap

Spoon

Directions:

Break up your soap base into smaller chunks and place into bowl.

Melt in your microwave on 40 second intervals until the soap is fully melted.

Add your soap colorant and scent and stir well.

Pour your soap into your mold. I used molds that I found at Michaels that were soft and flexible so I did not need to do anything special to the mold. If you are using a bread pan or a non-flexible mold you may want to spray a little bit of cooking spray to help the soap ease out of the mold when it has hardened.

Spritz the top of the soap with your Rubbing Alcohol to remove any air bubbles from your soap.

If you are adding different soap layers, (like I do in some soaps I am sharing later) you can let the first layer harden and then spritz it again and pour an additional layer of soap on top. Depending on the number of layers, you can repeat this process over and over. Allowing sufficient drying time depending on how solid you want your soap layers to be.

Remove from molds and wrap up pretty.

*If your soap becomes too thick to pour nicely into your mold you can quickly re-melt it again in your microwave.

I was surprised at how easy it was to whip up a batch of yummy smelling soap. And the fun part was using that same basic method and coming up with a lot of fun varieties of soap.

And, with some simple wrapping and embellishment you can come up with a very nice and inexpensive gift that someone would love to receive. Don’t you think?

I simply took some burlap, which I also found at Michael’s, that I trimmed down to wrap around each bar of Lavender Soap.

Then added a couple of dried sprigs of Lavender. You can also find Lavender at Michaels.

I had so much fun making Lavender soap, that I began experimenting. The girls also joined in and made some of their own soaps. Be sure to come back in a couple of days and I will share those with you and also pictures of my girls crafting them forward.

Michaels is participating in Random Acts of Kindness Week, Feb. 11-17, by asking customers to share their own random acts of kindness on the Michaels Facebook page and to use the hashtag #RAOKDIY when sharing on Twitter and Instagram.

In celebration of the holiday on Sunday, Feb. 17, Michaels hopes to inspire customers to participate by giving away more than $100,000 in gift cards at its nearly 1,100 U.S. and Canada stores. Gift card recipients will be encouraged to “craft it forward” and exhibit their own random act of kindness towards another person.

Customers who want to “craft it forward” can find inspiration for Random Acts of Kindness projects to give to others on the Michaels Random Acts of Crafting Pinterest board.

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About Amy

Amy Huntley is the owner/author of The Idea Room. A mother of five, who enjoys sharing her love of all things creative in hopes of inspiring other women and families. Never miss a creative idea that she shares by connecting with her here, or read more of her posts.

I love lavender! Is it possible to put the dried lavender in the soap or is it better to just use the oil? Have you tried adding anything (maybe sugar) to make the soap more exfoliating? I had lavender lemonade at a lavender farm once and thought that would make fantastic soap…I just don’t know how to add those ingredients. I would love to hear your thoughts.Thanks!

Lavender Lemonade sounds heavenly! You can add sugar! I make some sugar scrub cubes earlier and it calls for a soap base. Here is the link to that. http://www.theidearoom.net/2013/01/sugar-scrub-cubes-recipe.html
I think adding a bit of shredded lemon skin or some lemon oil drops to it would only make it better! When you add sugar though it quickly hardens so you would have to make it in a small batch first to test it out probably. I am so going to try this!! I will let you know what I find out! Thanks for the awesome idea!

Hi! I am new to your blog and slowing reading through the archives. Your blog has so many great ideas I can’t wait to try. I am a busy mom of 2 young boys with one more baby on the way. My question is: where can I buy a premade soap base? Also, do you know of any that don’t use animal products?

Hi – I am a beginner at this. Can you tell me the ratios of soap to scent? Does the soap smell stronger or weaker after it’s hardened. That’s and I love this idea and the way you wrapped them in the burlap.

I love this idea! Was thinking of making these for my boyfriend as a gift so he’ll think of me even in the showers! :D I would like to know though is it safe to use the microwave to heat up food after I have used the microwave to melt the soap? Because I have heard that the oven used for crafts must only be used for crafts…

In your recipe, how much of the soap base did you use. And how many soap bars did that make? I have eczema, so I am trying to make my own products to avoid chemicals that irritate my skin. Do you have a soap recipe that has oatmeal?

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